As of now he is still leading second crop sire here in the U.S. but it seems to me that with Justify in the picture WinStar has all but forgotten about bringing him back.

If they are bringing him back it wouldn't be in the middle of the breeding season. He would have to go into quarantine in South Korea and then again in the US. Plus because he is a breeding stallion, once arriving in the US he would have to cover mares and then they wait to see if he has any contagious diseases. So if he is coming back before next breeding season, I would imagine it would be in the next couple months.
There is something weird though. Normally you can look up a stallion's book of covered mares and he doesn't have one for 2017.

As of now he is still leading second crop sire here in the U.S. but it seems to me that with Justify in the picture WinStar has all but forgotten about bringing him back.

If they are bringing him back it wouldn't be in the middle of the breeding season. He would have to go into quarantine in South Korea and then again in the US. Plus because he is a breeding stallion, once arriving in the US he would have to cover mares and then they wait to see if he has any contagious diseases. So if he is coming back before next breeding season, I would imagine it would be in the next couple months.
There is something weird though. Normally you can look up a stallion's book of covered mares and he doesn't have one for 2017.

My thought was more along the lines of if Korea racing is writing updates about him and all, he's probably there to stay. And for the reasons you've listed above if a deal had been finalized we would know by now. Don't forget SK is in the Northern Hemisphere so breeding season IS over for them as well.

The article the picture is from, that was posted August 4, is actually an article about the stallion standings halfway through the racing year. After doing some snooping I'm pretty sure once the new year rolls around they erase the "covered broodmares" section, since Colonel John and others who have been there longer have no mares listed for 2018 or 2017. Could be wrong.

Probably gonna start a South Korea breeding/racing thread for these discussions.

As of now he is still leading second crop sire here in the U.S. but it seems to me that with Justify in the picture WinStar has all but forgotten about bringing him back.

If they are bringing him back it wouldn't be in the middle of the breeding season. He would have to go into quarantine in South Korea and then again in the US. Plus because he is a breeding stallion, once arriving in the US he would have to cover mares and then they wait to see if he has any contagious diseases. So if he is coming back before next breeding season, I would imagine it would be in the next couple months.
There is something weird though. Normally you can look up a stallion's book of covered mares and he doesn't have one for 2017.

My thought was more along the lines of if Korea racing is writing updates about him and all, he's probably there to stay. And for the reasons you've listed above if a deal had been finalized we would know by now. Don't forget SK is in the Northern Hemisphere so breeding season IS over for them as well.

Yes it is over now but it really wouldn't have been for that long. Even in the US the breeding shed is open into June and even into late July if a breeder wants to send a mare. Passing US quarantine for a breeding stallion is a month. In my opinion is better for them to wait and see if he passes quarantine before announcing anything. There have been incidents of Taylorella equigenitalis which is the bacterium that causes CEM.

The article the picture is from, that was posted August 4, is actually an article about the stallion standings halfway through the racing year. After doing some snooping I'm pretty sure once the new year rolls around they erase the "covered broodmares" section, since Colonel John and others who have been there longer have no mares listed for 2018 or 2017. Could be wrong.

Probably gonna start a South Korea breeding/racing thread for these discussions.

It looks like none of the stallions that were imported for the 2017 breeding season have covered broodmares. However anyone imported 2016 or before, does have a list.

Yes it is over now but it really wouldn't have been for that long. Even in the US the breeding shed is open into June and even into late July if a breeder wants to send a mare. Passing US quarantine for a breeding stallion is a month. In my opinion is better for them to wait and see if he passes quarantine before announcing anything. There have been incidents of Taylorella equigenitalis which is the bacterium that causes CEM.

Yes I am aware. But for him to go through quarantine that would mean plans were being made attempting to bring him back. Given the reaction to Justify's retirement, from a purely PR pov it would make sense to announce that WinStar was still looking at bringing back TCI. Their last announcement on the matter was sometime before the Kentucky Derby and they said they would discuss it.
My point is there is no update because likely the matter has been dropped. Maybe I'm being pessimistic but Empire Maker was announced as coming home before he went through quarantine and several months before his actual arrival. If a deal had been struck by now we would know.